May in the Atrium and First Holy Communion

First Holy Communion

 Level II:
These photos of our First Holy Communion classes are from eleven years ago (top) and nine years ago (bottom).  (Not really sure.)  This will give you an idea of the number of children that received when we started Level II.   May is the culmination of our year together in Level II learning about God, the Mass and the Sacraments.

Origins of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

(I was asked to give a talk to the Ladies of St. Andrews and this was the talk I gave in 2007.  In turn they graciously helped us financially to get much needed furniture, rugs and materials when we first started Level II.  We only had enough materials for two atrii, so my husband and I worked together building the materials for a third atrium.)

The origins of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd can be attributed to three Catholic Italian women:

Maria Montessori, M.D. (1870-1952)
She was the first woman doctor in Italy.  She did research in Rome on how children learn at different stages of development.  She did this for twenty years after giving up her practice.  She worked with sixty young children of working families.  She was up for the Nobel Peace Prize for her research as she was the first  person to ever do research on developmental psychology and learning of children.  As a woman of those times, she barely stood a chance of  winning, however in any education courses you are bound to study her research and she is held in high regard in education history.

Dr. Sophia Cavalletti (1917-2011)
She was a Hebrew and Scripture scholar; a member of the Vatican Commission for Jewish-Christian relations; and a writer for Vatican II.  She was also a scientist.  She attended a conference of Maria Montessori in England and came away wanting to scientifically study how children at different ages and stages of development could learn the Bible and Liturgy of the Mass.  She did just that after people began asking her to prepare their children for the sacraments.  She then designed the program as we know it as The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  She discovered early on that three year olds especially love the parable of the Good Shepherd.  They gravitate toward Him as a protector and someone who loves them.

Professor Gianna Gobbi (1919-2002)
She was an educator herself and had worked with Maria Montessori and later joined Sophia in her work.  Together they established the program called the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

A good definition of the word, "Atrium" then would be that it is an approach to the religious formation of children, ages 3-12 years.  It originated in 1954 with the founding of the children's centre or "Atrium in Rome, Italy.

I looked up the definition of the word, "Atrium."  It means:
1.  A central main room of an ancient Roman private house.
2.  A courtyard, mostly surrounded by colonnades in front of early Christian or medieval churches.
3.  An auricle of the heart.
4.  The entrance to the Vatican, which is sometimes referred to as the Atrium.
So we can conclude that the Atrium is the entrance to learning about God, the Church, the Holy Bible, the Sacraments and the Holy Mass.

The program is based on the conviction that a child has a deep need to experience and enjoy the presence of God and that God and the child are in a relationship.

How wonderful to hear that because it is what we as adults should be aspiring to in meditation and contemplation of Our Lord.  It is what the Protestants refer to when they ask, "Do you have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ?  This program nurtures that relationship from the very beginning.

This program is also used by Episcopal, Lutheran, Anglican or any non-Catholic church which uses a Liturgy.  It has been adapted for these churches.  Sometimes when there are not enough catechists, the children from these various churches use the same atrium.  The catechists also do their training together if there is only one training available in their area or when the schedule is convenient.

What I loved immediately about the program after observing it was the peacefulness of the room.  There was busy activity going on as the children were deeply involved in whatever materials they were working on.  Three observations about the program also made me know I wanted the training for this.  I was observing a presentation on the small altar as the catechist named each article of the mass: chalice, paten, tabernacle, etc.  However, she hesitated when she got to the article inside the tabernacle, but a child called out "ciborium!" before she could remember the name!  The 3-6 year olds are like little sponges and remember everything you tell them.

Then there was the incident when I had my first class in 2002 as I was assisting the catechist during my training in Phoenix.  I just didn't believe that three year olds could possibly understand a parable in the Bible.  I watched one three year old turning around while sitting on the rug and squirming while the Pearl of Great Price was being read.  Yet as I observed this child using the materials afterward, I could see he knew the story perfectly.  I could hear him telling the story quietly in his own words as he moved the figures exactly as the catechist was doing during her presentation.  After that, I was a believer.  It is truly teaching the children "meditation and contemplation of scripture" at the earliest age.

Also, I was always happiest when I'd get feedback from a grandmother or parent that their child while at mass would call out, "That's the Epiclesis!"  They knew the different gestures of the priest during the mass as well as their names.  What a great program!

Class Schedule:
The class schedule is set up as follows:
1.  The children sit on the rug at the prayer table.  They begin with prayer.
2.  The catechist then gives a presentation on either a Bible Story or demonstrates one of the gestures of the priest during the Liturgy of the Mass.  (about 20-25 minutes)
3.  The children can now choose a work.  There is only one of each Bible Story but there are many art activities relating to the mass and the Bible Stories, so the child can choose one of these or another Bible Story which was already read to them. (about 50 minutes)
4.  The bell is rung (around 10 minutes after the hour.)  This indicates that it's cleanup time.
5.  They gather back on the rug quietly.  We pray.
6.  We sing songs ending the class joyfully.
7.  Dismissal as we call individuals to get their work out of the folders to take home.

About the training of the catechists:
The training for each Level is 2 weeks long.  Sometimes it will be scheduled 1 week during one summer and the following summer will be 1 more week.  Other times I've traveled to Phoenix one weekend every month for the same amount of time.  I finished my Level I training in 2004 after observing and as an assistant for one and a half years during the training.  I certainly learned a lot about my faith.  I feel privileged and honored to prepare children for the sacraments.  I can't think of anything I've enjoyed more.  I was a teacher for 22 years in the public sector and always knew I was where God wanted me to be then and even more now.  I have been blessed with this ministry.

Our Atrium (Level I and Level II) at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Sierra Vista, AZ.

This is a common atrium setup with a few variations.  We have a holy water font and as the children enter, they learn to bless themselves with holy water.

In the small basket on the left is where we serve small paper cups of water for the children whenever they are thirsty as we have no water fountain in the room or nearby.




We also have a table with files where the children keep their artwork or letters to take home.  There is a date stamp on the table for them to stamp their work that day.






Also, as we don't have a sink with running water, there is a pitcher and bowl, typical in a Montessori classroom.  We keep the pitcher filled with some water and they are taught to wash their hands after polishing or pasting.  They throw the excess water into the bucket below when finished.

On the left bookcase is "The Tomb," "The Eucharistic Presence," and on the bottom shelf, "The Eucharistic Presence with International figures."

Most importantly there is the stationary bookcase with colored pencils, paper, glue sticks and scissors.  The first thing they learn in the atrium is how to collect their materials and put them away at the end of class.  It's wonderful to see three year olds in Level I become so comfortable with this structure.  They become competent and learn responsibility.

You can see blue name cards on the top shelf.  These I use for my Level II atrium because so many different family members drop off and  pick up during the year.   In addition, it is dark at 6:30 p.m. by the time they pick their children up.  The parent passes the name card to the relative or friend who will be picking up.  I have found that this makes it so much easier for me when they hand me the card.   I can look directly into their face and after a while I recognize them.  We have a sign in/sign out policy as well.  The sign up sheet is outside the atrium on a stand.

Our Level I atria meet on Sunday.  There are two sessions.  We also have a Thursday, Level I atrium for home school children.  Our Level II is during the week on Wednesday and Thursday.  These classes prepare our children for their First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion, ages 7 to 9 and sometimes older.  Now we have a Family Class for the older children and their parents attend as well.

Pin Maps and Sharing a Level I and Level II Atrium

Sharing a Level I and Level II Atrium

 Level I Practical Life Skills material for the 3-6 year olds is covered with a small curtain while the Level II atrium is in session.  This includes brass and silver polishing, grasping, spooning, and pouring.  This also gets them ready for pouring cruets and makes the three year olds feel very comfortable and at home in the atrium. 










This is the same bookcase but with the curtain over the Level I materials during a Level II atrium.
The Synthesis of the Kingdom of God Parables:  the Mustard Seed, Pearl of Great Price, Grain of Wheat, and the Growing Seed are displayed on a silver tray.  Also, The Found Sheep and The Wolf and the Hireling are kept in the tapestry box on the top of the bookcase.  These are within reach of the Level II children.


 

 Two of the Moral Parables, The Found Coin and The Insistent Friend are covered with a small curtain during Level I.  I keep all the tracing packets and the Presentations for Baptism and Reconciliation in this bookcase that I got at St. Vincent's.  We keep our calligraphy materials in this bookcase, Missals and Prayer Journals along with Altar Work for Level II.

The Moral Parables presented during our Sacrament Retreat

On a bookcase behind this one (seen below) is kept The Healing of the Centurion's Servant, The Forgiving Father, The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (first shelf), The Wedding Feast, the Ten Bridesmaids (2nd shelf) and The Good Samaritan (bottom shelf).   This too is covered by a small white curtain during Level I atrium. 

Displayed is the Invitation to the Wedding Feast.  This is my favorite of all the moral parables.  It suggests so much about what God wants from his people.  It lays out four categories of human choice and what can happen when we have free choice and make wrong decisions.  However, He wants us to all to come to the Wedding Feast.  He is a forgiving Father.
I always compare this with the Good Shepherd when He says, "There are other sheep outside this sheepfold."  But He wants one flock; one shepherd.

Missal Work and Prayer Journals

On this bookcase you can see the Missal Work for Level II and the White Control notebooks for the Missals (left)  The top shelf houses the Level II Altar pasting work.  I am the Level II catechist for this atrium.  We have two atriums.  So I've tried to keep everything out of the main part of the atrium for Level I catechists in that it flows like a Level I atrium only.  I have a Wednesday and Thursday late afternoon/evening class and so I keep their Missal material separate on these two shelves.

The Gifts of the Kingdom are a very popular material for Level II.  There are small boxes of Herbs in the picnic basket and below are two drawers - one with small boxes of rocks and the other is filled with seashells and different sea life.  They like to sit in pairs and discover everything.

There are also a file basket on the top filled with downloaded pictures of animals, people helping others, along with rocks and rock formations, sea creatures and ocean scenes, flowers and trees - all God's creations!

The posters displayed across the wall belong to this work also.  It describes creation and how God put everything in place including this beautiful world of creatures and human helping others. On the four large tables are the foam board maps for the City of Jerusalem and the Pin Maps.  Our trainer for Level II always said, "Big work means big tables."  You can see why.  Normally the children stand to do this work, but when necessary they can use the tables to sit and work too.

                                                                                                                                     The Pin Maps

  The children find the name of the city on the control map (left) and then look for it on the larger mute map and place the flag on that location.  They are to do this with the mountain ranges, large land and mountain ranges as well as the bodies of water.  They are four control maps for them to choose from.  The red flag are the cities, blue for the bodies of water, green for the land masses and yellow

 for the mountain ranges.



The bookcase on the right shows where the Pin Map Flags are stored.  They are covered on the top shelf.  The large foam board maps are kept between the two bookcases behind this one as well as the City of Jerusalem foam board maps.
So everything has a place but does not disrupt the flow of the Level I children.  It becomes the job of the Level II catechist to put everything back in place for the Level I catechists and their children.  "A place for everything and everything in its place."  That's the Montessori way.

 

In the photo below I've taken the pins and replaced them with small wooden pegs and small block bases.  A lot less hurtful than getting stuck with a pin.  We put up with that for years until one of the catechists discovered these posts with bases at Hobby Lobby.  So much nicer now and more attractive.

  

City of Jerusalem: Level I materials and a Level II material for the older children

Level I City of Jerusalem 

(Color coded for the 3-6 year olds)

 This is the new Level I City of Jerusalem that we now have in our atrium.  The last Level I trainer we had, Kim Manville Sisson, taught the catechists how to build this material.   What makes this nice for Level I is that each building on the bottom is painted the same color and same shape as its position on the map so the children know where to place it.  It is also the making it fun and easy for them.  However, overall it was colorless like oatmeal, so I gave it visual appeal and painted very lightly the whole landscape with rivers and paths.  It's very pretty now, I think.  I glued the tomb to the city's corner as the children didn't seem to know what to do with it.  When we present this work we present the path that Jesus took after leaving the Last Supper until he was crucified.  So it starts at the Cenacle, then the Garden of Olives, Caiaphas' Palace, to Pilate in the Tower of Antonia, to Herod and back to Pilate, and finally Golgotha. There is a control book for the catechist. 

I also painted the buildings and gave them gold accents.  We remade the Tower of Antonia using a Drummel as this was missing from the material.  Pictured below is how we show the children to put the work away in the box so they don't damage the materials.  They take pride in that work also.

I have made a control chart  on the top and inside lid of the box below which assists the children and the catechist.  Also, there is a booklet inside which tells the story of the Passion and is color coded.

 

 

 

 

Level II City of Jerusalem

  I also decided to paint the Level II City of Jerusalem which I had made from children's building blocks, a jig saw and drummel.  Everything is earth colors except for the Temple  as that was actually white with gold trim.

The Level II (7-9 year olds) can read from a booklet following the path Jesus took from the Last Supper to His crucifixion.  The children are told that they can put the walls of the city on the map after they follow Jesus' path.  Some children work in pairs and some just like doing it alone.

 There are two large maps with the shapes of the buildings and the walls cut out in yellow poster board which then are glued to the map.  The children place each of the buildings on the map and the next child removes the buildings to the  map on the table next to it.  There are two tables side by side.  The last person puts it back in the box as seen below. 

The pieces aren't to be thrown in the box carelessly.  They are put in like puzzle pieces neatly.
This is demonstrated after the presentation.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Nativity Narratives with maps

On these shelves are the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  We begin by showing how the cruets are prepared with the water and wine.  I tell my Level II children that this prepares them if they want to be altar servers.  They are eligible once they have received their First Communion.  They learn all the gestures of the priest such as the "washing of hands," the "Doxology," and the "Epiclesis."  The 7 to 9 year olds can read and are expected to read the words of the priest as they imitate the gestures.  In the "washing of hands" they can work together with one child being the priest and the other acting as the altar server.

Finally, they learn how to do the "Preparation of the Chalice."  And again, the words must be read.  I love hearing their voices across the room reading softly these words.  They take it very seriously, as they should.

Later, we do the entire Liturgy of the Eucharist with a presentation called the Synthesis of the Mass which I will describe at a later time.

 

This bookshelf holds all the Nativity Narratives.  There is a Scripture booklet for each material.  This is so the children can read the Bible Story as they work with the material.  In Level II the children often can be seen reading to each other the Scripture passage while one moves the materials, the other reads.

These are the Tracing packets that go with each of the Nativity Narratives.  The children like to trace and make their own booklets and color them.  The large packets are for the  younger children in Level I and the small packets are for the older children.  However, they sometimes use either.


There is also a geography area in the atrium.  There are small wooden puzzle maps of Israel in Jesus time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also a Topographical map (left) which helps the children learn where the angel appeared to Mary in Nazareth; where Jesus was born in Bethlehem and where He died in Jerusalem.

The Atrium at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Sierra Vista, Arizona

The Atrium at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church

 This is a replica of our altar at St. Andrews.  The little white cabinet contains all the materials that the priest uses at Mass in miniature.  They are labeled with pictures and words so that even the three year olds can put them away when they are finished.  The children learn how to dress the altar and learn the names of the materials used in the Mass.  Children are like little sponges and they remember even the most complicated words like tabernacle, ciborium, crucifix, etc.  It's pretty amazing what they are capable of at such a young age. 

Below the plastic cabinet contains the vestments of the priest that he wears in the Mass.  On display is a chasuble in red which he wears for Pentecost.  The children learn what the colors signify and are able to name the vestments. We use songs which help them remember the feasts and colors in the Church Liturgical Calendar.

In the shelving on the right is art work for tracing and pasting that the children love to do making the vestments and tracing the symbols for the mass and the sacrament of Baptism.  As some of the children who come to this program have not yet been baptized,  it is important that they understand the sacrament they will be receiving and it's significance.

  With all the symbols of baptism along with the oils, we also show the children how to baptize each other using their fists to represent the small head of a baby, which they enjoy doing.  They take turns doing this and are very serious about it.  There are two presentations in the Level I (ages 3-6) and another more detailed presentation for the Level II (ages 7-9).

There is a candle ceremony during the Baptism presentation where each child receives the light of Christ after being blessed with each oil, the Oil of Catechumen (for goodness) and the Oil of Chrism (for courage).  We use the Paschal candle to light their candle as the Paschal candle is used next to the Baptismal Font in the church.  At Easter they learn the meaning of the symbols on the Paschal Candle and there is another candlelight ceremony during Easter as well.  The photo shows art work for the Paschal Candle as well as for Baptism.

The photo on the right is our prayer table.  There is a procession celebration to change the colors for the Liturgical year which the children love to do in Level I.  They sing a psalm while they process outside and come back to the room to redress the prayer table.  

In Level II, the children are introduced to the Bible in its entirety.  At left you see the outside of the cabinet which houses all the books of the Bible.  I usually do a short synopsis of each book and the book's purpose for the Jewish people in the Old Testament.  I might include a short story from different books to make it more interesting until I finish the New Testament.

There are large floor puzzles that the children use to name each book of the Bible and we use songs as well.  The floor puzzle is kept under the prayer table and you can see in the photo a basket under the Holy Bible cabinet where another smaller version is kept.  Each puzzle has a control chart with all the answers.  I usually give a prize if they complete this work.  It takes most of the hour to do.  The religious medals, 

 pins, key rings and holy cards are donated by  parishioners.  I asked one of the office staff if they could help me with this, and I am pleasantly surprised every year and always have enough to last the year.

Each book of the Bible is numbered and the name of the book is on the front.  After asking the children if they notice any differences in the books, they always notice first the sizes.  I tell them that the tall books mean that these are longer stories and the smaller books are shorter.

 This cabinet (left) represents the Cenacle (or Upper Room as it is more commonly known).  It has door on the left side and there is a drawer under it containing the twelve apostles and Jesus made from Sculpy clay.   I make all our figures from Sculpy.  I've seen a figure bounce twice on the hard floor and never break.  It's a tough material after being baked.


My husband has made all the cabinetry for the atrium as well as the little houses for the Nativity narratives, while I do the small sculptures, wood finishing and painting.
You might have noticed that the backdrop of the Cenacle is the Jewish Candelabra for Passover, called the Menorah, I believe.  That can be turned around and on the other side there is the same altar background that we have in our church and on the little model altar.  This is used when we do the "Origin of the Eucharist" to explain the history of when priests and bishops began their work in the Catholic Church and mass until today.   There are ancient papers as far back as 100 A.D. describing the mass in great detail just as it is today.

In Level II, we prepare the children for Reconciliation (Confession) and Holy Eucharist (their First Holy Communion).   Although we read the Ten Commandments in the Bible together and discuss them at their level, our Level II program uses the Maxims (Jesus' own words in the Bible) to discuss sin and what it is.  For example, "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  That leads into a lot of discussion with 7-9 year olds.  They have amazing questions and input which always surprises me.  The white cabinet above contains twelve of the Maxims and the Greatest of all Commandments is on the left, "Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself."  By the time we are finished discussing all these wonderful Maxims, they are ready for the Sacrament and understand what Reconciliation is all about.